The Sydney Morning Herald has retained its position as the country’s most-read masthead, with more than 7.5 million readers across digital and print over the past 12 months.

New total news readership figures released by Roy Morgan on Monday show more than one in three Australian readers choose the Herald, despite consumption figures dropping slightly.

Meanwhile, The Age has maintained its position as the nation’s second most read masthead, with a cross-platform audience of 5.1 million and a lead of 800,000 over the News Corp-owned The Herald Sun.

Roy Morgan figures showed the Herald’s Monday to Friday print issues averaged 417,000 readers, a growth of 15 per cent, while Saturday’s print edition grew by 2 per cent across the quarter and 9 per cent annually.

The Roy Morgan figures showed The Age’s Monday to Friday print issues averaged 301,000 readers, a growth of 17 per cent year-on-year, while Saturday’s print edition grew by 2 per cent for the fourth consecutive quarter.

Readership figures for the Herald are almost double those of the News Corp-owned The Daily Telegraph across the 12 months ending June 2023, the latter having 4.01 million.

Good Weekend is the nation’s most read Saturday magazine insert, with an average print readership of 770,000, a rise of 2 per cent across the quarter, while cross-platform sport content grew to 3 per cent year-on-year to 2.29 million at the Herald.

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